Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Roan Mountain works elsewhere
For 1% of workers, the job is at home, next to 13% for Tennessee as a whole. 133 jobs are based in Roan Mountain; 421 of its residents have a job. Only 4% stay in Roan Mountain for work; outside it, Johnson City is the main destination (14%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Roan Mountain at work: what stands out
About 30 minutes each way for Roan Mountain’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roan Mountain workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 344 commuters (the 1% who work from home are left out). Across Tennessee: 87% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The workday shuffle in and out of Roan Mountain
On a workday 406 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 118 people come in from elsewhere.
About 510 people are in Roan Mountain on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Roan Mountain commutes to
Where Roan Mountain clocks in
14% of workers
12% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Jobs in Roan Mountain: what the 133 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roan Mountain, 2013 → 2023: 93 → 133. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Roan Mountain’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Roan Mountain commutes less than 20 miles
About 22% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Roan Mountain: questions
What is the median household income in Roan Mountain?
$55,625 (±$7,180) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roan Mountain?
1.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roan Mountain?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roan Mountain work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Johnson City (14%, 20 mi), Elizabethton (12%, 14 mi), Kingsport (5%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Roan Mountain without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roan Mountain, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roan Mountain
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.